This Week's Leaders

Weekly Randoms 2/13

Re: Weekly Randoms 2/13

@doodleoodle, @Allybiery- I'm there with you too. I keep telling myself there's enough time before the baby comes for her to sort out her sleep issues and start sleeping well again. But, in the meantime it's brutal, and I am SO TIRED.

DD has been going through a major sleep regression for the last month. She's waking in the middle of the night, often can't fall asleep alone, fights sleep tooth and nail, and is waking up super early. I'm ashamed to say that I just had a full on, weepy, hyperventilating panic attack about it. She was sleeping so well when I got KU. I know it's just a phase and like everything, it will pass, but I don't know how I will handle it if this is ongoing once DD2 arrives. DH works nights so it'll all be up to me.

My dds sleep has totally changed lately too. Nightmares, peeing the bed, can't even nap without me. I think it's baby stress. Try not to be too hard on her. It's SO tiring I know. I can't tell you how tired I am of changing sheets...

OK so maybe a "ghost story", but I still am unconvinced. When our first was born (DS), DH and I we only had one living grandparent; my Nanny. My mother's side has always used the term "Nanny" for grandmother and "Pop Pop" for grandfather. My Nanny had dementia so visiting her the last few years of her life was rough emotionally, but I was so close to her and my Pop Pop growing up so I couldn't wait to bring DS to see her. DS was maybe a few weeks old at the time and sadly my Nanny passed not long after that visit. We were fortunate enough to get a 4 generations photo (me, my mom, my Nanny and DS). It was the first time in years I had seen her genuinely smile and we captured it. Fast forward about 1.5 years. DS was playing and saw that picture newly displayed in our living room. He starts laughing and shouts "Big Nanny!". I assumed he saw my mom, but I realized he was pointing at my Nanny. So I point to my mom (his Nanny) and say "Nanny". [Note: My mother doesn't look like her mom]. He says "Nanny" pointing to my mom and then points at my Nanny and says "Big Nanny". I didn't think much of it and his vocabulary was limited so I left it at that. Months later I'm desperately trying to get him to nap, but I kept hearing giggling from his room. I was on the phone with my mom and he came running out laughing. I said "Maddox, it is nap time. What are you doing?". He said "Playing with Nanny". I said "I'm on the phone with Nanny, she isn't here" He said "No Mommy. Not Nanny. Big Nanny". I said "You're playing with my Nanny?" He nods his head and I said "Where is she?" He "showed" me where she was (nothing there) and I said "Well let Nanny know you need to nap and can play later". I didn't think much of it, but my Mom and aunt believe in spirits and are convinced my son was truly interacting with their mother - my Nanny. DS hasn't mentioned her in almost a year now. I don't know what to make of it, but my family is convinced it was my Nanny visiting/watching over him when he was young. Meh... not sure, but it would be sweet if that is true.

DS has been playing/swimming so hard all morning that he actually asked to come to the room to rest. He gave up daytime naps with us back when he was 18 months old so we were pretty surprised at his request. We get up to the room, put his pj's on, and 5 min later he was like this. Kid clearly was exhausted!

I'm all about taking kids to restaurants so they learn. My DD was tough when she was younger, but shes 4 now and is really great when we go out. It took a few times but I try not to stress over her being perfectly well behaved. I don't let her run around the restaurant but I'll let her stand up and move around at our table. I'm also big on distractions. Crayons, little toys, or even videos on my phone keep her occupied.

My DF and I make a point of not staying in just because we have her with us so she's been to so many restaurants not technically "kid friendly" places and we often find them to be very accommodating. We took her to a brewery near us a few months ago and the owners came out and gave her goldfish to eat and chalk to draw on their floor with.

@allybiery DH worked in restaurants for years and tells me all the time that it will be a long while before we bring our kid out to eat with us. We'll see how that changes once LO gets here and we're hungry but too tired to cook.

@HgPa I don't know if I'd be able to accommodate someone else's request to be team green with our baby, so props to you guys for even trying!

As far as dining out...I worked in restaurants for many years and there are parents that just don't care, and ones that at least make an effort to correct behavior. I didn't care how out of control the child would get or what kind of mess I had to clean up under their chair or high chair as long as the parents tried to fix the situation. It was the parents that just sat there and let their kid throw food, yell, run around bumping into other people's chairs that got me. I am a FTM, but we plan to take our LO out with us as much as we want to, knowing that it may not always be an enjoyable experience for us, but it will end up as a teachable moment if nothing else (probably for us as much as our daughter).

When dd was tiny she cried constantly except when she was being held/worn by someone standing up and bouncing around or walking, so we would only "eat out" at places where we could order at a counter and then eat while we walked around the mall or stand at counter-height tables wearing her. Thankfully that was short lived and now she's a restaurant rock star. Now we take her out to restaurants somewhat regularly. We don't go anywhere super fancy, mostly because we would want to enjoy that experience in a more relaxed way than we can with her along. I bring crayons for her and let her snack on bread (or cheerios from the diaper bag) while we wait for the food. She does fine. The most she disturbs other people is staring and smiling at them for a long time, which i figured they can deal with. She usually makes a mess on the table and sometimes the floor, but i always clean it up and pile everything on a dirty plate, so I don't think it makes too much work for anybody. She is really easy to handle though, so we might do things differently when we have another one who will have a different personality.

Everyday I seriously think to myself I could not be more tired than I am, yet every day I feel like I beat my exhaustion record from the previous day. I just want to sleep through an entire night and spend one full day doing absolutely nothing.

Christ almighty, if I have to deal with my mother one more time, I just might lose it. The conversation du jour was kicked off by my sister seeing a photo posted of me on FB from my baptism/confirmation/first communion when I converted to Catholicism back in 2014. I swear, if she starts in again on how Catholics are heathens (her opinion, obviously not mine), I might just lose it.

DS tested positive for the flu. Ugh!!!! Thank God he had the flu shot so his symptoms are relatively minor (cough, runny nose, tired) but we were on day 5 of fever. Hopefully hes almost through it. I feel so bad for my little guy bc theres nothing they can do for him. I was at the midwife today and shes like youre going to get it so fingers crossed the flu shot minimizes the symptoms and Ive been told to take Emergencee, vitamin c drops, and drink warm water with lemon, and warm water with ginger. Shes crunchier than the average so thats pretty much the limit of what shell recommend. Im hoping for a miracle and I dont get it too.

@Wearmi1 I went down the rabbit hole in the February group, reading symptoms and birth stories! So interesting, and one of the ladies gave birth to a 10 lb 7 oz boy! I cringed and am also so so impressed with her.

Everyday I seriously think to myself I could not be more tired than I am, yet every day I feel like I beat my exhaustion record from the previous day. I just want to sleep through an entire night and spend one full day doing absolutely nothing.

I've been sick almost a week now and haven't gotten more than 4-5 hours of broken sleep a night. So I took a full sick day today and it was amazing. DD went to daycare, I slept until 8am and also napped, and other than showering I did nothing but watch reality TV reruns until I had to go pick up DD at 5pm. It was magical and I highly recommend it. I need to do this more often when I'm not actually sick.

@meg2704 I've been learning a lot from reading those boards. Helps me be prepared for what's coming down the road in a few months.

My lovable but clueless hubs suggested I should use him as a snoogle this morning when I woke up complaining he was hogging the bed. He was like you should just drape yourself on me and then you'd have the whole bed! Umm no.

Sending healing vibes to everyone who got sick loved ones right now!It seems like we just can't catch a break

I'm currently waiting in ER to get some test results. Took a pretty nasty fall down the stairs after dinner. Hit my head, lost bladder control and all (thought my water broke that's how much fluid came out!!).Baby is fine. Now to make sure my arm, back and head are in tact... UGH!!!

I'm up now too... apparently our house has been struck by the stomach bug... started by the preschoolers that happen to live here. I'm sure most with kiddos will want to reach through their screen and slap me, but my boys have not had a stomach bug since they were 11 months old and they are now 4yo so this is new territory for us... I'm having to teach my kids how to throw up, ugh...

This week has been a "what next" week so far. First Sunday my chip in my debit card decided to stop working. Monday called to get a new one. An hour later went to get gas and use my star card (military credit card that give a discount on gas) that wouldn't read! So called to get a new one. Wednesday went to call my grandma to finally tell her the name we decided on. My phone wouldn't make out going calls!! I restarted my phone like 3 times and it finally started working.

The stomach bug is in my house now! DH and I are down. I had to leave work early because I could tell I was next. DS had it Monday and Tuesday. I can't even keep ice chips down. Ugh. My dryer just decided to break too. Of all the times to not be able to do laundry...

@silliegirlie143 Super glad to hear you're ok - how scary!This really has been one of "those" weeks. Despite Monday's root canal, I'm still having what feels like nerve pain that has woken me up at 3am the past two mornings and isn't responding to Tylenol, so a call to the dentist needs to happen to see if this is "normal" or if I need to come back. Sigh.

Over here sick too- I reluctantly called a sub for today because I felt like I should toughen up since apparently this is just a cold (flu test came back negative).. But I only got up for a few minutes to get something to drink and had to lay back down because I was so dizzy/weak. Now the aches and pains are starting. No way would I have made it at school today.